day seven.......

ah, the crocheted starry Christmas garland.....

love it.....

it brightens up any space and makes me smile....

I remember spending many evenings crocheting

this when we were living in Oz and I love that it

still lives with us now, even though we are half way 

round the world from where it was created......

* january *

ah, January..... 

it came in with snow, which was just so beautiful 

{especially as it sat heavily on our Christmas 

tree which was still sitting out on the deck}

  

 the old asylum looked magical......

and we were treated to some lovely warm,

comforting fires to keep our toes toasty and 

make our marshmallows squishy and squashy....

{just perfect for making smores.....}

Evie learned to play cribb at Christmas....

she was more than happy to be my teacher......

{I did lose the game though.... she's ruthless that girl......}

there was a bear's birthdays to celebrate.....

so of course cakes had to be baked

and decorated......

so that celebrations could be had......

I picked up a big bag of duplo from an op shop for the small
people in our family to enjoy......

and let's just say that toys for 'little people' never lose their appeal

 {even when my little people aren't so little anymore.....}

Evie added to her playmobil collection....

{this is another toy which is a favourite in our home and never loses its appeal......}

Brian and Evie spent a fun afternoon making a dinosaur

landscape diorama, which actually turned out really well....

and Isaac decided to use his typewriter to do his schoolwork on.....

i do so love the clickety clack of an old typewriter.......

and that was january here in our home.....

quiet, gentle and 'homey'..... just the way we like it......

aaaahhhhh, Christmas {and a brand new year......}

the beginning of the Christmas holidays was rather lovely

here in our little corner of the world.....

we had two different lots of friends from 'down south' come to stay

with us and it was so lovely to catch up with them and just 

listen to their lovely aussie accents for a while.......

 then, within the blink of an eye, Christmas morning was 

upon us with early wake up calls from the children 

{though they are getting a little later these days than they used to be.......}

however, some things don't change

e.g. lego for the teenage boy......

books for the bookworm girl......

{evie had requested the final book in the Pegasus 

series from father Christmas.....}

and within no time at all the playmobil sabre tooth 

tiger was biting the caveman's head off..... 

what a way to start Christmas morning........

then we went to a Christmas morning service at church

which was completely bonkers and led by a pirate

playing a banjo.......

this was swiftly followed by a jaunt down to my sisters' 

house where we had a wonderful Christmas dinner together,

whilst wearing our homemade hats {made from the cast off

wrapping paper and packaging from the Christmas gifts.....}

let's just say there was an ecclectic range of  hats on

display - some more elaborate than others.......

here's a little photo of them stolen from my sister.....
 

 they're rather fabby for having been made with a
load of old tat don't you think?......

this trip was followed by a quick visit 'up, up north' to
catch up with Brian's family and then we were back home......

phew......

time to ease into the new year now.....

the joys of moving......

moving can be a bit of a tricky business.....

there's so much to organise......

lots of ends to tie up.......

and people to say goodbye to......

it's not always easy and can make us feel

'all mixed up' and 'at a loss'

for quite a while......

there are joys mixed in there too though......

for us it was coming 'home',

back to family and friends that had

been around FOR EVER......

we were sad to leave 'the south',

but we were happy to return to 'the north'......

it's been lovely to 'settle in' to our new

home and to reacquaint ourselves with some

of the treasures we left behind when we

flew half way around the world to live for

a while........

isaac has been happily reaquainting himself

with his wooden tracks........

even at 12 years old there is still a lot of

play value in the wooden tracks, engines, cargo,

engine shed, bridges and crane......

i love to watch him play and try not to interfere -

even when he builds his

tracks right in the main thoroughfare between the

lounge room and the sun room where we spend most

of our day......

these things may be a little chipped and

'worse for ware'

but that doesn't detract from the

joy they bring as they are 'discovered'

all over again......

and me?

well, there's lots of things I am enjoying

about being here......

Saturday morning coffee in the sun room with a cream bun

and a broadsheet newspaper being

just a couple of them......

though the joy would be even greater if I

could just finish the pesky crossword.......

oops......

i completely missed january......

no post from me at all here.......

but it was a bit of a busy month filled with
'house-moving-and-settling-in'
so that's ok......

we moved into our new home a few days into the new year

and only had the bare minimum of 'stuff' borrowed from my sister

to keep us going......

a couple of camping chairs and a lamp for the front room.......

a few air beds, sleeping bags and pillows for the bedrooms.......

a few pots and pans, crocks and some cutlery for the kitchen......

it was minimal, but absolutely workable......

and it gave me time to plan where things would go when they arrived.......
{i earmarked the above corner in the sunroom as 'my' space,
a place for my sewing machine and craft cupboard......
it's important to have your own little corner i have found......}

and 6 days ago our 'ship came in' and all our 'stuff' arrived......

it took four days of unwrapping, unpacking, constructing and organising

but we have pretty much got all our things where we want them and it feels

so nice and homely here now.......

isaac even found his 'build-your-own-medieval-castle-book' which I had been 

promising him we could start to construct as soon as it arrived back from australia......

so that's exactly what we started to do......

the road is long......

really, REALLY long......

but we are so happy to be here......

the kids were so excited that there was snow......

but soon jumped back in the car to warm up after they remembered 

how cold it gets when there is snow around.......

Phase one......

here's a picture of phase one in the secret plans and clever tricks....


a little sofa for the corner in the school/craft room.....

In our house in Bristol we had a little sofa in the corner of the kitchen/diner/school room and it was where the kids always used to snuggle up to read while I got on with other things.

And I've missed it..... the kids have missed it too.... missed having a special little reading 'nook' to which they could retreat and get lost in a good book while still feeling part of what was going on in the heart of our home.

So last weekend we acquired a little sofa and within minutes it was claimed and made 'theirs'....

They pulled through one of the quilts from the front room (nothing like snuggling under a quilt on a chilly day to read) and took a couple of cushions off the chairs just to make it all a bit more comfy and squishy.

I have plans for a new quilt and cushion covers to brighten it up ...... but wait, that's getting into phase two of my plans!!

Anyway, it's not just the kids that are enjoying the new space..... I tell you, leave the computer alone for 2 minutes and the cat will be enjoying the warmth!!


Oh, and our postcard has arrived at its destination in Germany (that was quick) so we should get one fairly soon..... I need to go out postcard buying so that we can send some more......